Hi all,
I did a recap of our last book club, but it appears as though some of us didn't get it. I am hoping that this email goes to all of us. If you are interested in what happened at our last meeting and would like to know what books we are reading for our next meeting and when that meeting is you can go to www.rhondasbookclub.blogspot.com (it will be the post before this one).
-Heather
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Book Club Recap 12/1/09
Our last book club of 2009!
Attendees: Callah, Christopher, Denise, Heather, Julie, Lisa, Rambo, Rhonda, & Tina.
First, I must say that Rhonda is on the ball this year! She had all of her Christmas and Hanukkah decorations up and she had TWO Christmas trees! Her place looked really good. She said "this is what happens when you don't have a job!"
Callah, Rhonda, and I were the only ones that read Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving. We all three liked it, but all of us are Irving fans and we all recognized that if you are not an Irving fan you may not like this book. Some members said that it was hard to get into the book. We all did not think that it was our favorite Irving book, but we liked it.
Rhonda had a hard time with the big time lapse of the characters. The main character Danny starts off in the book at 12 and at the end of the book he is in his 60s.
I thought that it felt like this book was John Irving's autobiography. So much of the book seemed to be about him. To me, it felt like he sometimes made fun of himself and his style of writing. A similarity that I pointed out was that Irving and Danny Angel both wrote stories that went on to receive Academy Awards for the screenplay in the same year. There were many times when I knew what was in the book was something that happened to Irving. It made me question what was real and/or true in this book and what was not.
We all thought that Irving tied up the book really well and there were really no loose ends. We talked about how Irving ties up his books really well and the reader doesn't feel like they need the story to continue on. Callah wasn't so sure she liked the ending about Lady Sky (I liked the story of Lady Sky when we were first introduced to her). Callah and Rhonda also wished that Irving told us who was driving the Blue Mustang. We also discussed how the themes of the bear, New Hampshire, cutting off of a hand, and other stuff I can't remember that seems to be in many of his novels.
Keo did not make it to book club :(, but he said that it wasn't his favorite book. I would have to agree, but I liked it. If anyone wants to read an Irving novel you should read The World According To Garp.
Valesca had suggested the book The Hunger Games at the last book club as another selection after LNITR. She had said that it was a great book. Rhonda and Tina read the book and they said that it was great! They said that they couldn't put it down. It took Rhonda a day to read and Tina three days, which is a record for her. They really loved the book and couldn't praise it more. They didn't want to talk about it since they wanted all of us to read it. That means that this book will be one of our next books for book club!
Our next book club is going to be on Tuesday February 2, 2010 at Rhonda's house 7pm. We will be reading TWO books! The first one is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0439023483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259822212&sr=8-1 If you get your books from the library you will have a long wait. I went to put a hold on it the other day and I was #100 in the hold list, yikes! Rhonda and Tina have a copy and if you want to borrow the book I am sure that they would lend it out. The other book is Push by Sapphire http://www.amazon.com/Push-Novel-Sapphire/dp/0679766758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259822367&sr=1-1 This book is what the movie Precious to based off of. I went and saw the movie last weekend and I really liked it. I suggested that if you want to watch the movie and read the book you should go and watch the movie first. The performances were so well done and I think that it will enhance the characters in the book. Also, most books are better than the movie and since the movie was good you should watch it first so that you won't be disappointed :)
After we discussed the books we talked about other stuff, which I am drawing a blank on now :) We talked about Rhonda's new spin bike and the trapeze class she took with Denise. We talked about running and if anyone is interested Denise is going to be doing the LA marathon next year!
See you at Rhonda's party or in the New Year!!!!!
-Heather
Attendees: Callah, Christopher, Denise, Heather, Julie, Lisa, Rambo, Rhonda, & Tina.
First, I must say that Rhonda is on the ball this year! She had all of her Christmas and Hanukkah decorations up and she had TWO Christmas trees! Her place looked really good. She said "this is what happens when you don't have a job!"
Callah, Rhonda, and I were the only ones that read Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving. We all three liked it, but all of us are Irving fans and we all recognized that if you are not an Irving fan you may not like this book. Some members said that it was hard to get into the book. We all did not think that it was our favorite Irving book, but we liked it.
Rhonda had a hard time with the big time lapse of the characters. The main character Danny starts off in the book at 12 and at the end of the book he is in his 60s.
I thought that it felt like this book was John Irving's autobiography. So much of the book seemed to be about him. To me, it felt like he sometimes made fun of himself and his style of writing. A similarity that I pointed out was that Irving and Danny Angel both wrote stories that went on to receive Academy Awards for the screenplay in the same year. There were many times when I knew what was in the book was something that happened to Irving. It made me question what was real and/or true in this book and what was not.
We all thought that Irving tied up the book really well and there were really no loose ends. We talked about how Irving ties up his books really well and the reader doesn't feel like they need the story to continue on. Callah wasn't so sure she liked the ending about Lady Sky (I liked the story of Lady Sky when we were first introduced to her). Callah and Rhonda also wished that Irving told us who was driving the Blue Mustang. We also discussed how the themes of the bear, New Hampshire, cutting off of a hand, and other stuff I can't remember that seems to be in many of his novels.
Keo did not make it to book club :(, but he said that it wasn't his favorite book. I would have to agree, but I liked it. If anyone wants to read an Irving novel you should read The World According To Garp.
Valesca had suggested the book The Hunger Games at the last book club as another selection after LNITR. She had said that it was a great book. Rhonda and Tina read the book and they said that it was great! They said that they couldn't put it down. It took Rhonda a day to read and Tina three days, which is a record for her. They really loved the book and couldn't praise it more. They didn't want to talk about it since they wanted all of us to read it. That means that this book will be one of our next books for book club!
Our next book club is going to be on Tuesday February 2, 2010 at Rhonda's house 7pm. We will be reading TWO books! The first one is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0439023483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259822212&sr=8-1 If you get your books from the library you will have a long wait. I went to put a hold on it the other day and I was #100 in the hold list, yikes! Rhonda and Tina have a copy and if you want to borrow the book I am sure that they would lend it out. The other book is Push by Sapphire http://www.amazon.com/Push-Novel-Sapphire/dp/0679766758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259822367&sr=1-1 This book is what the movie Precious to based off of. I went and saw the movie last weekend and I really liked it. I suggested that if you want to watch the movie and read the book you should go and watch the movie first. The performances were so well done and I think that it will enhance the characters in the book. Also, most books are better than the movie and since the movie was good you should watch it first so that you won't be disappointed :)
After we discussed the books we talked about other stuff, which I am drawing a blank on now :) We talked about Rhonda's new spin bike and the trapeze class she took with Denise. We talked about running and if anyone is interested Denise is going to be doing the LA marathon next year!
See you at Rhonda's party or in the New Year!!!!!
-Heather
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